I wonder why the tea party is so incensed to think that they have been “targeted” for audit by the IRS? When there is overreaction, it usually means someone has something to hide.

See how the scrub jay scolds when a cat is in the area? Birds try their cleverest to hide their nests from potential threat; in fact, I suppose every living thing on earth has something to hide. I doubt if even the double-crested cormorant tells his mate about a side affair it had, although the male mallard duck is promiscuous and doesn’t seem to care! For some species, promiscuity is an accepted way of life.

In the human realm, aside from tax evasion, one of the biggest cover-ups for some is in sexual matters. I doubt if any “normal” partner tells all of the escapades they had, both in childhood and in more “mature” times. I suspect that even in Catholic Confessionals, or on the psychiatrist mat, not everything is revealed. The depths of the mind contains billions upon billions of experiences gained while living. Some are forgotten, while others may be so involved and even so embarrassing that they never come forth.

Birds are probably the most adept at finding hiding places for their nests. At least they usually try to hide their location, although I’ve known robins to build a nest on the camp swamp cooler, and a hummingbird built its small work of art right on our porch swing chain-hinge one year! Ospreys make no secret of their gigantic stick nest on a power pole either.

Among the displays in the Feather River Nature Center is a Stellar’s Jay nest built on top of a bird house! The Center also displays a hummingbird nest that had been cleverly wedged in the fork of an oak branch.

When I worked at Lake Merritt, I saw hen mallards build nests in odd places, even though five islands had been built in the lake for them. However, the ducks knew black-crowned night herons had started using the bottlebrush for nesting, and any ducklings that hatched on the islands would be devoured.

So in the garden center pond, in Fairyland, on the sailboat house deck, the little pile of twigs and feathers would appear. Not so with the resident Canada geese that paired together for a formidable defense and started reserving nest space on the islands in late winter.

Some bird species, especially the jays, bounce around on the forest floor hiding nuts, much in the way that squirrels are also great hoarders, and often can be seen digging little hiding holes with those clever paws to drop in an acorn. Although their sense of smell is acute, many seeds are not recovered, accounting for new seedlings.

A squirrel’s leafy nest in the treetops is rather obvious, although they often prefer the privacy of a crevice if available.

Quails are masters of hiding, both in nest building amid the grasses, and in the camouflaged chicks that fade into the duff with one sharp command from the parent. The cute babes are indeed something precious to hide.

You can be looking right at a family of quail, and when they go into freeze mode, are almost impossible to find for a photograph. Most chicks of ground species are precocial and adept at hiding.

The importance of habitats having hiding places is the sheltering of the habitat’s inhabitants! HELP (Help Environmental Landscapes Prevail!”

“To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall.”

— Thomas Huxley

“One of life’s primal situations is the game of hide and seek. But you must not hide too well or you’ll never be found. The player must never be bigger than the game.”